A Dose of Reality
by angel718
Summary: Well...I saw my profile.  And this was born.  Oneshot.


Disclaimer: Not mine. Got the idea and the note written by the characters from LostOzian. (Read "Occupational Hazard" and "Occupational Dilemma" to understand.)

The clacking of Galinda's ridiculously high heels was the only sound any of the Ozians could hear as they hastened down the long corridor. "We're late," Elphaba muttered tersely, halting in front of a cherry wood door and waiting for the others to catch up.

"What do you think this is about?" Nessa asked her sister, twisting her hands in her lap and glancing quickly up at Boq. "Do you think she's _finally_ going to put me in one of her fics?"

Elphaba shrugged. "We ought to get in there. Galinda, do you think you could move a little _faster_?"

Galinda rolled her eyes. "Elphie, I love you, but you clearly understand _nothing _about making an entrance."

"We don't _need_ to make an entrance! You know she hates when we're late, and it's always your fault!"

Fiyero sighed and knocked at the door, cutting off the retort that was growing on Galinda's lips. It opened slowly to reveal a semi-dark room lit only by the blue light of an enormous computer screen. Everyone crowded into the room and glanced around. "Hello?" the Prince called softly, glancing around. This wasn't normal…usually the room was very well lit.

"It's dark in here. Don't you want the blinds up?" Galinda scurried forward and reached for the cord, but before she could pull it, a voice cut her off.

"No blinds." Slowly, the speaker came into view. She was sprawled out across a long, black couch with an ice pack pressed to her forehead.

Galinda immediately gave a soft squeak of fright. It had to be bad if there wasn't any pink in the room.

"Is everything all right?" Boq ventured timidly, sidestepping as inconspicuously as possible from Nessa, who was trying to take his hand.

The woman ignored his question, choosing to raise her right wrist limply and examine the watch she was currently wearing. "You're late," she snapped, suddenly sounding a little stronger. "I told you to be here fifteen minutes ago. I wanted to talk to you before the others got here." She sighed, profoundly irritated.

"Others?" Elphaba demanded sharply, staring at the authoress. "You mean people from other fandoms are coming here?"

"Precisely. And now I haven't the time to talk to you in any detail…I'd set aside twenty minutes for you."

"Wait…angel718?" Nessa inquired anxiously.

"Just angel is fine, Nessa. Or angie or ang, if you prefer, I don't care."

"Right…anyway, am I going to have a role in any of your fics? Is that why I'm here? With Boq?" Nessa hinted, raising her eyebrows.

"That's what the meeting's about, Ness, but you'll have to wait until everyone else arrives."

"Could you possibly write a Gloq?" Boq asked hopefully, inching closer to the blond.

"Ew," Galinda crinkled her nose. "I like things the way they are. Me and Fiyero deserve each other!"

"Fiyero and I," the authoress corrected automatically, shooting a sidelong glance at the Prince that warned him to keep his mouth shut. She had written Galinda clueless, and didn't want a "Yero moment" ruining all of her hard work. She knew, of course, that Elphaba was smart enough to know to keep quiet.

All of a sudden, a loud and obnoxious flurry of knocks echoed throughout the room. The door flew open, and in hurried the seven Bohemians from the RENT section. "We're heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee!" sang Maureen, oblivious to the others in the room.

"Maureen," the authoress chided gently, "easy on the knocking next time, sweetie."

The brunette nodded, grinning.

"What's going on?" Angel wanted to know, stepping closer to her friend and noticing the ice pack that she wore. "Oh my God, are you okay, honey?"

"Long story. I'll explain when everyone gets here."

"Heyyyy, you really do look like me, only green and with straight hair!" Maureen exclaimed suddenly, having noticed Elphaba for the first time. "I didn't believe anyone when they told me!" She beamed. "Think you could teach me some magic, sexy?"

"Maureen!" Joanne glared at her lover.

A furious angel718 interrupted what could have quickly turned into an enormous feud. "Where's Nia?"

"Roger said you called and told him we didn't have to bring her." Mimi blurted out.

"ROGER!" The authoress sat bolt upright, sending her ice pack flying across the room.

"What?" Roger demanded sullenly.

"Get your sorry punk-rocker behind back over to Mimi's place immediately and pick her up! I need EVERYONE from my works in progress to be here! EVERYONE!" angel718 began to take deep, calming breaths the moment Roger had left the room and slumped back onto the couch with a shuddering sigh. Fiyero uncertainly extended the ice pack toward her, and she accepted it with a grateful nod. A few awkwardly silent moments later, she cracked her eyes open and demanded, "Is Benny here?"

"You didn't mention him in the letter. We thought you didn't need him." Mark told her quickly, trying to avoid another blowup.

"I'll go pick 'im up," Collins offered hastily, already halfway to the door.

The poor authoress returned to her deep breathing, which was interrupted again by still more knocking, followed by a flood of Harry Potter characters. Immediately, they began to bombard her with questions.

"Why has it been so long since you updated us?"

"Don't you love us anymore?"

"Why haven't I had a chapter—"

"No, _I _want the chapter, _I'm _the sidekick that no one cares about—"

"—I'm _Harry Potter,_ this is ridiculous!"

"I thought _I _was getting the next chapter!"

"That's right, Draco, go after what you want, just like your old man—"

Elphaba glanced around the room at the mob of angry witches and wizards, confused RENT bohos and baffled (and tired, in the case of herself and Fiyero, since angel had been writing them the most) and angel718, who seemed about ready to either explode again or burst into tears. "SHUT UP!" She roared, and at the loud crash of thunder that followed her statement, a shocked silence fell.

_"Nice," _Fiyero whispered, grinning, while Nessa looked scandalized.

"Thank you, Elphaba," sighed the authoress, when _complete_ silence had its reign.

She nodded graciously.

"Now, we're just waiting for a few people from the Smallville and Birds of Prey genres before we actually start, as well as Benny and Nia…" A few of the Bohemians shrugged apologetically.

As if on cue, three women, an older man, and a teenaged boy with gorgeous blue eyes swept into the room, without even knocking. Nessa instantly rolled herself over to the redheaded woman, pleased not to be the only wheelchair-bound one of the group.

Maureen and Galinda both let out quiet _"Oooh"_s at the sight of the boy, forgetting their respective partners and making puppy dog eyes in his general direction.

"What's all this about, angel? You know we don't have much time," snapped the Huntress, flipping her short, dark hair out of her face.

"Helena," admonished the Oracle softly, accidentally interrupting Nessa's introduction.

"I _know_. Almost everyone's here, and I'll explain then."

Again, as if on cue, Roger, Collins, Benny and Nia rushed in. "Finally!" huffed the irritated authoress, flipping the ice pack off of her forehead. "That thing is ridiculously warm."

"I got it," Mark assured her, heading toward a freezer in the back corner of the room and fetching her a new one, using only one hand as a result of his unwillingness to release his camera.

"Just toss. And hurry up, I want to get this over with ay-sap." Mark obeyed, and at last, the authoress pushed herself up and surveyed the motley group. "What we have here," she began, in her standard lecture voice, "is a gathering of everyone from my fanfiction works in progress."

"I can see that," muttered Draco. She fixed him with an icy glare.

"You shut your ferrety mouth or I'll give someone the next chapter of 'Behind Their Facades'. As I was _saying _before I was so rudely interrupted…you are all here for a reason. In case no one has realized it, I have a grand total of nine fics on right now…and six of them are unfinished."

A collective gasp seemed to rise from the group, all of who seemed to realize how deep of a whole the authoress was in.

"That's right," she sighed, "and therein lies the reason why updates for fics other than Wicked are coming along so slow."

Galinda gave a little "ha!" of scorn in the faces of the people from other fandoms, but Elphaba jabbed her in the ribs. "Shut _up_ you idiot, they'll tear you apart." Galinda pouted, slightly hurt from her friend's nastiness, but shut her mouth.

"Why Wicked?" demanded Draco.

"Because…I don't know! They're just so easy to write!" angel718 was clearly beginning to get frustrated (again) at how uncooperative the other characters were being.

"Plus she doesn't write me or Boq in her stories," Nessa piped in jealously, "and it must be easier to only write three major people."

"Nessa, you and Boq will be in the later chapters of 'What Is This Feeling,' I promise!" she exclaimed. "And Nia, I promise, things will look up, sweetie, I just have to get around to it."

Her original character from "Seasons of Love" raised her head and smiled as realistically as possible. "Okay…" Mimi looked at her in concern, but she shook her head. "I'm okay."

The authoress sighed. "I think I'll just bang out something for the last three chapters of 'BtF,' which are Draco, then Ron, then finally Hermione…and don't complain, Harry, J.K. Rowling's gone into quite enough detail with _your _issues. No offense, guys, but that fic's just not inspiring anymore, and I just want to get it over with…"

A mix of complaints and joyful shrieks (mostly Ron) from those who had or had not been told they'd get a chapter filled the room, but angel couldn't be bothered to wait for silence. "'Untitled Sequel…' is giving me trouble, too, so don't expect to be needed until sometime in the very distant future." She winced apologetically at the involved characters and shooed them out of the room to give her time with just the Bohos and Ozians.

"After I finish 'BtF' I'll probably move to 'Don't Let Go,' Mark."

Mark sighed, but nodded. "Um, ang? Is there any way you can help me, you know…?"

She cut him off. "Don't worry, honey, you'll be fine…eventually." She added the last bit in a soft whisper.

"Why did everyone have to be here to begin with?" Roger demanded.

"Because I didn't want to repeat the beginning bit three times. As I was saying, the Wicked characters are being extremely cooperative, particularly on 'Notes,'" she smiled at the Ozians, "but I feel bad only updating that one…and thus the point of this whole…" She trailed off as a scary thought occurred to her. "Omigosh, I haven't worked on the _Catch-22 _assignment in weeks!" Her eyes were wide and she looked very pale.

Galinda inched forward, looking scared. "Do you want us to put something up for you?"

"Would you?" Her eyes widened even further.

"Yes, of course!" Angel exclaimed. "That' s perfect. We'll do it now." She hurried to the computer and began to type, with each of the characters adding their own little bits.

_Hey, guys, angel718 has recently realized that she has too many in-progress fics online right now. She wants to let you all know that this is causing a bit of writers' block in basically everything. When she does write, she is going to focus on getting the two shortest fics out of the way. She seems to think that this is the only way for her to be able to give her more in-depth, important fics the attention they deserve. She apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. And by the way, the fact that she's not necessarily posting doesn't mean she won't be able to read and review._

_Thanks!_

They signed it with a flourish and posted it.

A.N. So true. Review! (Hey, a rhyme.)


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